My Dearest Connie Marie
by NomitheNeko
Summary: A short story based loosely on the Edgar Allen Poe poem Annabel Lee. Rated T for Death. Please review.


I sat in side of the uppermost tower of the castle I'd lived in my whole life. My mother was the queen of the land of the Quartz and she'd moved us to the country side while she still bore with me. My betrothed lived in the castle across from us on the eastern side of the lake. I would gaze at her every day and we hadn't the chance to meet yet, but my father and her father had arranged our marriage. I suppose I was lucky because she was absolutely beautiful. I was not allowed out so I stayed in my room all day, painting pictures of the chestnut-skinned woman who captured my heart. I received a letter from her, "I'd like to meet. I shall be coming at nightfall in a fort-night." It read in a large script. At the end of letter, there was a painted picture of her in a long, muslin dress holding a single long stemmed rose in her hand. I pinned the picture to the window where I could gaze at her sweet face. I slept late that night and I awoke the next midday and saw the sunlight streaming through the panes of my window. I heard my mother beckon to me and I walked down out of my tower and ate lunch with my family in somber silence. My mother had to leave the brunch early to attend to matters in the parlor so I finished and dismissed myself to my room. As I climbed up the stairs, I heard the sound of galloping horses echoing from my window down the spiral staircase. I hurried up the stairs and watched a blue and lavender carriage slow as it reached the church that stood tall on our property. I saw a lady with black curled hair, which she had pinned up in different places, step out and gaze about the court. She stepped inside of the church and I waited to see if she would return. I saw her step back out after the church bells rang for the 6 'o' clock mass. Her handmaidens and ladies walked with her toward the front door of my silent castle.

I raced down the stairs and met her at the door. I opened it and noticed that it was she, the one whom I've been waiting for. She greeted me with a bow and I had done the same. Her father, the king of the grasslands, bowed at me as well and I discussed our marriage plan with him. My father withdrew himself from the library and offered his finest wine to the king. The two occupied themselves while I was left to attend to my fiancée. I summoned her to the parlor where my mother sat, writing a letter to the governor of the town we were from. I left them alone so they could be acquainted. I gazed upon her shimmering skin and observed how her eyes glistened in late sunset. Our maidservants lit the fires and called us to our nightly feast. After our plentiful feast, we danced together in the ballroom. Her father had called upon the finest orchestra he could find so we may court each other. My wondrous bride to be spoke to me of the unfortunate circumstances of her very birth. Her mother, when begat with child, fell ill and she did not live to see the babe grow into the woman that stands before me now. Her smile was brilliant and her lips were that of soft pink roses which my mother grew in the menagerie. I bowed to her at the end of our dance and she had done the same. "May I kiss thee upon your hand, ma'am?" I requested. "Please do, dear dauphin" she replied, unto which, I did press my lips to the soft scented skin. Our wedding was the same night and so we were set to consummate our marriage.

Later that same year, a babe with olive skin and dark hair was born unto us and to our great pleasure, he was a prince. My sweet wife ventured back to her fathers' citadel with our dear son so that she may be cared for by her personal handmaids. A chilling winter storm rang out upon our sleepy town which had caused much distress for all. I sat alone in the spire that was my chamber and I gazed upon my bride and child. If indeed I could, I would have begged her to stay that chilly night, for I saw the evil that was a group of marauders enter into her fortress. I called out to my father and my mother, but alas, they had retired for the night in their own room. I heard the shouting and the ruckus from my tower and how I wished to rescue her and so I hitched my stallion and raced toward their home. I was distraught as I gazed unto her father who lay lifeless on the stone slab that made up their home. By the time I had reached them, the outlaws were long away. I raced toward the tower that would hold my son and wife. Dear me, I found her body, still warm, but there was no beat of her heart and my son layeth upon the bed and he had been murdered as well. I held my wife in my arms and cried out for her, "Why, Lord, O why hast thou taken my Connie Marie?" Her lovely and cold face haunted me as my dreams were filled with images of my Connie Marie. The days and nights pass quickly but sleep never cometh to me since the night I lost my Connie Marie. My darling bride who had become my life for there was never another but she, who layeth her life down in her tomb by the sounding sea.


End file.
